New to Turbo Buicks--matching the cam, injectors, and turbo??

[JustABuick]

Hey all, I'm new to Turbo Buicks, and am currently assembling the parts I need to get my roller 87 T up and running. This may be a dumb question, but what is the best way to go about matching the turbo, injectors, cam, etc.? Or is the chip technology good enough that you just have to be within the ballpark? The car will be primarily for street use, but I'd like to take it to the track and be able to run high 11's.

Thanks, Kelly

 

[earlbrown]

high 11s is so easy you can almost do it with stock stuff. Do all the preventative stuff like fuel pump, timing chain, valve springs, 60# injectors/mathcing chip, spring cleaning, etc... Then see where you're at.

Add alcohol and you're done.

 

[JustABuick]

This is good news, the roller I bought already has an alky kit and walbro 340 fuel pump--a hotwire kit is coming soon. Would you recommend any porting or a bigger turbo, such as a TA 49? And I want to keep it on pump gas

 

[earlbrown]

Don't open up the engine unless you have to.

 

[JustABuick]

Well, I bought the engine separate, and not complete, so it's already opened and I am getting all the parts together

 

[earlbrown]

Oh man. You're in for a ride. You really need to find someone local with FIRST HAND TR engine building experience.

These engines are notorious for failing quickly on a recent rebuild and they are not cheap to build ESP if the failure takes out turbos and oil coolers/radiators.


Do you own any engine building tools like mics, bore gauges, 100#+ calibrated torque wrenches, mag bases, dial indicators, etc... ?

 

[JustABuick]

No, I've been in contact with someone who has built these before for members on this site, though. I've heard about how finicky they are, and have been planning on having someone with experience do the engine assembly and any necessary machine work. And I don't have nearly enough engine building tools to pull off the job by myself

 

[tta1240]

what are your goals ? i would go with the 60lbs injectors with matching chip from turbo tweak.ww.turbotweakstore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=20ith you will not need to mod the ecm with this set up.i would also buy a scanmaster when you buy the injectors/chip.you will need to know what is going on in the engine to make it last and tune it.the size of the turbo will all depend on what you plan on doing with the engine and trans.ported/not ported,cam,stall ect.

 

[Sydwyndr]

Hey all, I'm new to Turbo Buicks, and am currently assembling the parts I need to get my roller 87 T up and running. This may be a dumb question, but what is the best way to go about matching the turbo, injectors, cam, etc.? Or is the chip technology good enough that you just have to be within the ballpark? The car will be primarily for street use, but I'd like to take it to the track and be able to run high 11's.

Thanks, Kelly

Then make sure to build it for high 10s for reliability. Because if you like most people that want a car that runs high 11s, then you will say well just gimme an 11.50 and ill be happy, before you know it you will be like "you know, im really close to the 10s".. trust me it seemingly never ends. Do it right the first time so you don't go back and do it again....

 

[JustABuick]

Well, my ultimate goal is reliability on pump gas, but I would like to be able to take it to the track a handful of times every summer. The reasons I want high 11's are because I've heard it's still reliable and street-able, and the track I live near (National Trail Raceway) requires all cars faster than 11.49 to have a 'cage, which I don't want to put in---not sure if that's a rule for all tracks or just NTR?

 

[earlbrown]

You would be amazed at how little it takes to put these cars in the mid 11s

 

[JustABuick]

That's what I've heard, I'm excited to find out for myself! Thanks for all of the input and advice, I really appreciate it

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

I had the same goal as you do, not sure on your budget but like Clint was saying, it really is less expensive to do the engine build correct the 1st time than to do it twice. I took my time and gathered used parts, billet 6262 turbo, Champion iron heads, ok maybe that's it for the used parts, but every little bit adds up. Pretty much everything else is in my signature, but slow and steady will get you there. Getting back to your situation, while the motor is down, put your money in that , so you don't have to pull it again. Most other upgrades are bolt on's, consider a girdle or two billet center caps for the crankshaft, ARP hardware for assembly, roller cam, heads ported with performance valve job (champion cnc heads are better). If you end up needing pistons or you bore it over size, aftermarket pistons; will need to get the rotating assembly balanced. Alright I think I spent enough of your money...... same with the tranny, cheaper to get the best one right up front than a mid grade one, just to have you over power it in 1yr and then spend the money on the one you should have bought to begin with... oooohhh I would have saved $$$$'s if I would have done that... By the way the picture of your car looks sweeeeeeeeeeeeet !!!

Chuck

 

[Mr.Spool]

for high 11's,stock motor,49,tranny upgrade,alky,tune,drag radials,intank pump hotwired.drive everywhere and have fun.

 

[Buick Mark]

Yep, leave it close to stock

 

[JustABuick]

I had the same goal as you do, not sure on your budget but like Clint was saying, it really is less expensive to do the engine build correct the 1st time than to do it twice. I took my time and gathered used parts, billet 6262 turbo, Champion iron heads, ok maybe that's it for the used parts, but every little bit adds up. Pretty much everything else is in my signature, but slow and steady will get you there. Getting back to your situation, while the motor is down, put your money in that , so you don't have to pull it again. Most other upgrades are bolt on's, consider a girdle or two billet center caps for the crankshaft, ARP hardware for assembly, roller cam, heads ported with performance valve job (champion cnc heads are better). If you end up needing pistons or you bore it over size, aftermarket pistons; will need to get the rotating assembly balanced. Alright I think I spent enough of your money...... same with the tranny, cheaper to get the best one right up front than a mid grade one, just to have you over power it in 1yr and then spend the money on the one you should have bought to begin with... oooohhh I would have saved $$$$'s if I would have done that... By the way the picture of your car looks sweeeeeeeeeeeeet !!!

Chuck

Thanks for the info and compliment! Who do you recommend getting the tranny from?

 

[JustABuick]

I assume I'd need larger injectors as part of a "close to stock" build?

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

60's with alky go a long way, need a chip (many run turbo tweak chips from Eric Marshall @ turbotweak.com ) each time you change injector size, most of us changed chips also when going from non alky to alky. Eric has it all at his web site.

Chuck

 

[earlbrown]

If you're buying injectors there's no reason not to jump straight to Mototrons 60/65's. They're linear, all the good chip burners are familiar with them, and the run and idle fine on a stock engine all the way up to max duty cycle.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Thanks for the info and compliment! Who do you recommend getting the tranny from?

Go over to the tranny section of this board, there are a few really good guys that are vendor's on here (pay to advertise and sell there services here on this board).

Chuck